Then the inventive Kanu set up Paul Robinson – the Albion defender, that is. It was not until nine minutes before the interval that they fashioned a decent opportunity, Jermain Defoe firing over.By contrast West Bromwich’s attitude in the first half reflected their manager in his pomp, and they displayed no mean skill on the ball. They went ahead after 12 minutes when Zoltan Gera’s deep cross was dispatched past Paul Robinson with a magnificent header by Kanu, a man once appreciated in the other half of north London for his intricate close ball skills.Three minutes later, Campbell burst through and was denied by Robinson. There couldn’t be a better advocate for players’ rights.World Cup 2006 could be the time they repay Eriksson for all his kindnesses. He was ineligible for this round and instead went to Cairo to make a public apology to the Egyptian people after being banned from representing his country for indiscipline.How Tottenham craved his scoring touch in a first half in which the London side looked a team unfamiliar with each other. But for the vigilance of goalkeeper Paul Robinson, this tie could have been beyond Spurs.Robbie Keane was returned to the starting line-up in the absence of striker Mido, a two-goal scorer on his debut against Portsmouth.

The eight-times winners have not reached the final for 14 years.
But a brace by the England striker Jermain Defoe – who was overlooked by Sven Goran Eriksson on Wednesday, but who here offered a reminder of his scoring prowess to the watching England coach – ensured that not only the fifth round, but the quarter-finals, too, beckon as their prize for this triumph. Tottenham’s association with the FA Cup, for so long a significant part of their tradition, has become confined to the archives, and ones increasingly gathering dust, at that. Any sign of Chelsea hitting the wall has yet to be detected.. The second time, Everton’s new loan signing from Real Sociedad, Mikel Arteta, lined up a shot right on the edge of the penalty area but struck the defensive wall. On the first occasion, Kevin Kilbane whipped in his best cross of the game for Lee Carsley to head at goal, Cech extending his astonishing unbeaten record beyond 16 hours with a comfortable stop. Cole produced one weaving run to shoot straight at the goalkeeper, but must have felt that Robben’s role on the wing is too restrictive for him. Jarosik, the tall Czech midfielder, later replaced him to help repel Everton’s late aerial threat as the home supporters were offered two moments of hope in identical circumstances.Twice Chelsea conceded free-kicks out on the flanks, then had the ball moved forward 10 yards after dissent.

Five minutes earlier, Paulo Ferreira crossed low from the right, Gallas jabbed the bouncing ball on to the crossbar and Eidur Gudjohnsen tapped in the rebound.It was perhaps their 12th serious attempt on goal, the law of averages, if not of football; demanding some reward at last. The best of the earlier ones brought fine saves from the ageless Nigel Martyn, diverting Gudjohnsen’s angled flick for a corner and thwarting the same player from no distance as the outstanding Damien Duff’s shot was deflected to him. It did not arrive until the 74th minute, when Duncan Ferguson strode from the dug-out for his 24th Premiership appearance of the season – 23 of them as a substitute By then, however, Chelsea had broken through. On one occasion in the first half, gamely holding up the ball amid a crowd of Chelsea shirts, he held his arms wide in a forlorn appeal for some help. I was a centre-half and I’d have been ashamed to have gone down like that.

I think James was running with his head down and ran into the back of him.”Up until then it had been expected that Chelsea might dominate possession but would have to withstand some pressure from Beattie and Marcus Bent in attack; afterwards Bent was reduced to the lone foraging role demanded of him before Beattie’s arrival at the club, except that 4-5-1 was now 4-4-1. It would have been a ridiculous thing to do in the 88th minute of a frustrating afternoon; in the eighth, it was difficult to think of an appropriate adjective.Just as bizarrely, Everton’s manager, David Moyes, settled for “undeserved”, suggesting to general astonishment: “I’ve seen it again and I don’t think it was a sending-off The centre-half went down far too easily. Terry was always in position to shepherd the ball out of play but Beattie became increasingly annoyed at William Gallas’s attempts to block his run; first he pushed the Frenchman in the back, then, absurdly, leant forward and butted him on the back of the neck. That may prove a dubious advantage when they travel down the East Lancs Road for Saturday’s FA Cup tie and see what they have to play on.Nothing of note had happened until Beattie, who scored for Southampton after 12 seconds at Stamford Bridge in August, decided to go through the motions of setting off in pursuit of a punt up the left wing. The Goodison pitch has been relaid in both penalty areas only, as if Everton were a Sunday afternoon customer arriving at the garden centre to find there was insufficient turf left to cover the whole lawn; the story was that Manchester United, desperate to improve the Old Trafford surface, got there first. For Everton, the day’s only consolation was Liverpool’s failure to make up any ground on them.Mourinho had offered the conspiracy theory that at the end of international weeks Chelsea always have to play earlier than Manchester United (who meet their neighbours City today) and Arsenal (who take on Crystal Palace tomorrow night).

Not surprisingly, they were outplayed from then on, making only two late chances, both of them from free-kicks moved forward 10 yards after John Terry and then Jiri Jarosik deliberately kicked the ball away. Unlike Beattie’s aberration, the Chelsea pair’s did not affect the result.
The Chelsea manager, Jose Mourinho, would have been rightly furious had his team thrown two points away in those circumstances in the wake of last week’s draw with Manchester City. As it was, with Joe Cole doing a poor imitation of the injured Arjen Robben, they took until the 69th minute to score the goal that ensures thoughts can now be turned to the other three legs of a unique grand slam. Kevin Nolan’s curled shot from the edge of the area was tipped against the crossbar, only for a weak header from Kevin Davies to give the grateful keeper a chance to drop on to the ball.At the other end Michael Reiziger’s 80-yard dash down the left flank was rewarded by a fine pass from Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink. Job was alone in the box waiting for the cross but Jussi Jaaskelainen beat him to it.Another defender keen to push forward was Anthony Barness, Bolton’s reserve right back, who came close with a 25-yarder that Schwarzer had to help past the post.Typically streetwise work by Ivan Campo, earning a free-kick when surrounded by red shirts then taking it quickly to Ricardo Gardner, led to another excellent opportunity for Bolton at the beginning of the second half. At least Stuart Downing, fresh from his England debut last week, was fit enough to start, albeit more centrally than usual on the left of a midfield three. Understandably in view of the personnel available to him, McClaren had deployed an extra central defender.Yet for all that, Boro did their fair share of attacking, creating several clear openings on the break, and ought to have been ahead within two minutes.